johnlink ranks THOR: THE DARK WORLD (2013)

Slowly working my way through the second phase of Marvel films. I finally saw IRON MAN 3 a couple of months back and got to THOR 2 last night. Now I just need to get around to seeing the second CAPTAIN AMERICA film (which I hear is great) and I will be all caught up.

The first THOR, as directed by Kenneth Branagh, was a relatively small and personal film despite being about a God who traveled through space. With THE AVENGERS upping the ante considerably, it was expected that the second THOR, now directed by Alan Taylor, would be a larger film. THOR: THE DARK WORLD is definitely bigger, but it may not be better. In fact, the only area that this move makes improvements over its older sibling is in the creation of Thor’s home planet of Asgard. In the first film the world felt like an entirely CGI created home. In the sequel, the world feels much more tangible, much more there. Other than that, though, this is a movie which is not as good as its predecessor.

This is not an offensive film. The story concerns Thor (Chris Hemworth) protecting his Earthly girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) from a super elf villain Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) who wants a substance which Jane has absorbed into her body. Thor has family problems because his Dad, Odin (Antony Hopkins), doesn’t think he knows what his best and his Mom (Rene Russo) is still sympathetic to his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) even though Loki spent AVENGERS trying to destroy the Earth.

The story is fine. While it does not break any new ground within the comic book movie genre, it also doesn’t butcher this universal story the way something like GREEN LANTERN did. THOR 2 is a pretty enough film, a smart enough film, and an effective enough next chapter in the larger Marvel storytelling arc. But it is nothing more. This feels like an episode in a TV show rather than a major motion picture from a studio. Nobody is bad in this, but no performance or moment is particularly spectacular.

The movie it at its best when it is on Earth and centered around Jane’s friends. It also gets good at the end when Loki and Thor team up. But the inspired moments are far outweighed by your standard summer blockbuster stuff. Despite that, there is never a terrible moment which ruins anything.

There are some smart bits concerning a guard Loki turns into twice, foretelling something secret. Yet when this secret is revealed in the film’s final pre-credit moment, it leaves way more questions than answers. Or, more pointedly, what the heck happened to Odin and why aren’t we dealing with that since it is a much more compelling storyline?

If I haven’t banged home this point enough, THOR: THE DARK WORLD is not a bad movie. It is perfectly entertaining and serves as a nice enough distraction. It just isn’t exceptional in any way, and probably doesn’t need to seen other than to fill in the holes in the overall Marvel movie universe.